Ancient Milky Way Merger

A study published in Nature Astronomy provides definitive evidence that a dwarf galaxy named LKH collided with and merged into the young Milky Way approximately 12 billion years ago. Researchers utilized data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, specifically analyzing globular star clusters to uncover this ancient galactic event. An artist's concept released on August 17, 2026, depicts this massive collision, illustrating how the dwarf galaxy integrated into our own galaxy during its early stages of formation.